Hamburg, Johann Saxo, 1587-1588. Large 4to. 37.5x35.5 cm. 1572 pp. and 2 leaves with titles decorated in woodcut + 1 (added) leaf with engraved title-print. GENERAL TITLE LACKING. Text is complete. Uniform modern cloth with marbled boards in 3 vols. (part 2 & 3 bound together), new flyleaves. Incidental browning, title of part II doubled with paper, some other neat repairs. First edition of Elias Hutter's (or Hutterus) famous Hebrew Bible, typographically one of the most impressive Hebrew bibles with a unique font, especially designed for this bible. "In this edition the root letters are printed in thick type, and the inflectinal letters in hollow type; and when a root letter in any word does not appear, it is printed in small type above the line" (Darlow & Moule). Added at the beginning of part I is an elaborate engraved promoting title-print with on verso a list of contents of the intended polyglot edition of this bible ('Specimen Operis Polyglotti (.)' The date on the engraved title-print (for Tomus Primus) is Hamburg 1595. Vinograd Hamburg 4. Darlow & Moule 5108. Dict. de la Bible (1903) p.786. [Attributes: First Edition]

Basel, De l'Imprimerie de François Forest, 1587. - 4to, pp. [xvi], 710, [2, errata and blank]; large engraved printer's device to title, elegant head- and tail-pieces, large historiated initials and smaller initials; very slight creasing at fore-edge of a few leaves, small loss to blank lower outer corner of p. 655, marginal ink spot to pp. 658-9, small ink stain to blank upper margins of some pages at the end, light foxing to final few leaves; else a very good clean copy in 18th-century calf, spine richly gilt with raised bands and gilt lettering-piece, gilt board edges, edges sprinkled red; corners somewhat bumped and worn, small abrasions to covers, small split at top of upper joint; armorial bookplate of Elden Hall to front pastedown; an attractive copy.First edition of La Noue's celebrated Discours, edited by Philippe Canaye, sieur de Fresnes. An octavo edition appeared later in the same year.François de La Noue (1531-91), known as 'Bras-de-Fer' following the amputation of his left arm and its replacement with an artificial one, was a major military figure in Renaissance France, also known as the 'Bayard Huguenot'. He composed the Discours during his five-year imprisonment in the Spanish fortress of Limburg. 'It is chiefly as a political reformer that La Noue comes before us in his Discours. The first is a noble and able statement of the condition of France, remarkable for its impartiality and absence of party-spirit. The same tolerance is shewn in the third, in which he protests against the common practice of designating those of the opposite religion to the speaker a
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Chez Pierre Menier., Paris, 1587. First edition in small marbled boards. St. Francis of Assisi was the founder of the Franciscan Order, born at Assisi in Umbria, in 1181 or 1182, died there in 1226. Complete in 16 pp. 6" by 4". Spine is scraped, boards loosening. Photographs on request. [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]

Antwerp: Abraham Ortelius, 1587. unbound. Map. Uncolored engraving. Image measures 14" x 19.5". These two maps on one sheet detail areas of western Mexico, above, and the Greater Antilles, below. Ortelius created them from information compiled by other mapmakers, such as Mercator, Guttierez, and Alsons de Sata Cruz. These sources allowed him to include a wealth of detailed information that is mostly if not entirely accurate. Above, the map of western Mexico shows the area around Culiacan and the Spanish settlement of Villa S. Michaels, which was notable in the period for its silver mines. It begins at the Yucatan and extends through the Cayman Magnus and the Caymanes. The map below illustrates the Greater Antilles, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, St. Jois Insula (St. Johns), the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, and the Windward Islands, all in impressive detail. The section of South Florida also shows suggestion of the Florida Keys, which was uncommon for these period. A notable error is that the Tropic of Cancer is labelled as the Tropic of Capricorn. A highly decorative note with strapwork and foliage fills the acific Ocean to the left of Mexico and provides information about the upper map. The lower map also has a framed cartouche with birds perched atop it. Two ship illustrations float in the choppy seas around the islands. The map is a first state from the 1587 French edition of Ortelius's "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum." It is in excellent condition with no chips or tears. Stain at the center seam in the lower margin, not affecting the image. French text on verso. Abraham
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[John Wolfe], 1587. 8vo, ff. [i] 140 [xi] plus double page folding diagram, unsigned. Italic letter, woodcut initials and tailpieces, typographical diagrams preceding table and final folding woodcut plate. Light age browning, a good copy in 17th C speckled calf, gilt ruled, spine gilt in compartments chipped at head, a bit rubbed. 18th and 19th C armorial bookplates of Earls of Macclesfield on pastedown and fly respectively, Shirburn castle blindstamp to first few ll. A rare edition of the only work of Machiavelli published, surreptitiously, during his lifetime. Machiavelli considered war to be the most important aspect of statecraft and this is one of his most important works. In seven parts, it takes the form of a series of dialogues in a garden retreat between Cosimo Rucellai, a friend of Machiavelli who had died young, and "Lord Fabrizio Colonna" (an alter ego of Machiavelli), with other patrizi and captains of the recent Florentine republic. Fabrizio is enamoured of the legions of the Roman Republic and advocates adapting them to Renaissance Florence. He dominates the discussion with his knowledge, wisdom and insight. The other characters for the most part yield to his superior knowledge and merely bring up topics upon which to question him or to seek clarification. The dialogues often become monologues with Fabrizio detailing how an army should be raised, trained, organized, deployed and employed. "Machiavelli's knowledge of the subject is all the more remarkable when we consider that he was not by profession a soldier, but a diplomatist. Soldiers have attacked his de
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Contemporary vellum. This is darkened and stiff. The spine has cracking, and the front board has separated from the text block. Housed in a new quarter leather clamshell and marbled solander (clamshell) box. Ornamentation by Jeronimo Ruscelli. Engravings cut for the publisher in 1556. 51 full page woodcuts (collated and complete). Architectural title page. Engraved title page to p533. Each of the engraved plates is followed by an engraved border and initial. The inside board bears the coat of arms for the Earl of Chesterfield. Further bookplate of H.S.W. Edwares (donor to the British Museumand constructor of the Bano-Kano railway in Nigeria.) Some fairly early (17thC?) marginalia throughout. A couple of (17thC?) annotations and ink sketch of a cannon to the rear end paper. Two booksellers catalogue entries pasted into the inside rear board. Orlando furioso (or the Frenzy of Orlando) is an Italian epic poem. The poem is divided into forty-six cantos, each containing a variable number of eight-line stanzas.

Paris: Chez Pierre Menier., 1587 First edition in small marbled boards. St. Francis of Assisi was the founder of the Franciscan Order, born at Assisi in Umbria, in 1181 or 1182, died there in 1226. Complete in 16 pp. 6" by 4". Spine is scraped, boards loosening. Photographs on request.. 1st Edition. Hard Cover. Good. BG1-5 Right.

London, printed for Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie, 1587. France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. VVith marginall notes, and a table of necessarie vse newlie added herevnto. Volume I and a small part of Volume 2, 1587 edition, 4to in eights, approximately 270 x 195 mm, 10½ x 7½ inches, broad decorative border to title page, elegant pictorial head- and tailpieces, historiated initials, printed in black letter, pages: [28], 1-1043, [1], 1-198 of 786 of Volume 2, finishing ANNO SEPTIMO, bound in full old calf, triple blind ruled border to covers, raised bands to spine, blind rules, ink hand lettered title to spine, stamped initals "H A" to upper cover. Boards slightly stained and slightly worn on edges and corners, upper hinge starting to crack next to some raised bands, very small crack at top of hinges, tiny chip at top of lower hinge, front pastedown missing, 2 early inscriptions on front endpaper which is browned at edges and is laid down on paper, initial blank present with a repaired closed tear, some upper margins trimmed, no loss of print, small pale damp stain to some upper margins and to a few fore-edge margins, closed tear on page 1013, neatly repaired without loss, a little brown spotting to lower inner margin of pages 2 and 3 (second sequence). A very good clean, tight, sturdy copy, lacking most of Volume 2I as noted. The Statutes begin with Henry III and Magna Carta, and continue to the reign of Henry VIII, followed in Volume II to the seventh year of the reign of Edward VI. Sweet and Maxwell, Volume I, page 352, No. 18.
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ad signum Charitatis, 1587. 4to (in eights). 2 vols. in one. pp. [xii], 172, [iv] ; pp. [xii], 160. (a , A-L . ; , A-K .). Roman letter. First title in red and black, woodcut printers device representing Charity on both titles, large historiated woodcut initials, woodcut ornaments, head and tailpieces, early ex-libris with shelf mark crossed out on blank portion of first t-p, library stamp (smudged) beneath. Light age yellowing. Very good copies, crisp and clean, in contemporary limp vellum, a little soiled and creased, remains of ties, early ink casemark on spine. Excellent editions of two of the most important and influential works on exorcism of the sixteenth century by the most authoritative exorcist of Renaissance Italy, the Franciscan, Girolamo Menghi. Both these works were later included in the authoritative collection on exorcisms the 'Thesaurus exorcismorum'. Menghi was born in Viadana in the province of Mantua. At the age of 20 he joined the Fransciscan order, rising to the level of provincial superior in 1598. A theologian and exorcist, he practiced in Bologna, and was known as 'the father of the exorcists' art'. His best known work, 'Flagellum Daemonum' was translated into Italian and published in 1576, as 'Compendio dell'arte essorcisica' so it would reach the widest audience possible. "Girolamo Menghi's Flagellum Daemonum (the Devil's Scourge), (was) originally published in Venice in 1576. This was a collection of seven rites of exorcism with detailed instructions on the preparation of the priest and the victim and what sorts of gestures or paraphernalia the p
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London, printed for Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie, 1587.. France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. VVith marginall notes, and a table of necessarie vse newlie added herevnto. Volume I and a small part of Volume 2, 1587 edition, 4to in eights, approximately 270 x 195 mm, 10½ x 7½ inches, broad decorative border to title page, elegant pictorial head- and tailpieces, historiated initials, printed in black letter, pages: [28], 1-1043, [1], 1-198 of 786 of Volume 2, finishing ANNO SEPTIMO, bound in full old calf, triple blind ruled border to covers, raised bands to spine, blind rules, ink hand lettered title to spine, stamped initals "H A" to upper cover. Boards slightly stained and slightly worn on edges and corners, upper hinge starting to crack next to some raised bands, very small crack at top of hinges, tiny chip at top of lower hinge, front pastedown missing, 2 early inscriptions on front endpaper which is browned at edges and is laid down on paper, initial blank present with a repaired closed tear, some upper margins trimmed, no loss of print, small pale damp stain to some upper margins and to a few fore-edge margins, closed tear on page 1013, neatly repaired without loss, a little brown spotting to lower inner margin of pages 2 and 3 (second sequence). A very good clean, tight, sturdy copy, lacking most of Volume 2I as noted. The Statutes begin with Henry III and Magna Carta, and continue to the reign of Henry VIII, followed in Volume II to the seventh year of the reign of Edward VI. Sweet and Maxwell
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London printed for Christopher Barker Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie. France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. VVith marginall notes, and a table of necessarie vse newlie added herevnto. Volume I and a small part of Volume 2, 1587 edition, 4to in eights, approximately 270 x 195 mm, 10½ x 7½ inches, broad decorative border to title page, elegant pictorial head- and tailpieces, historiated initials, printed in black letter, pages: [28], 1-1043, [1], 1-198 of 786 of Volume 2, finishing ANNO SEPTIMO, bound in full old calf, triple blind ruled border to covers, raised bands to spine, blind rules, ink hand lettered title to spine, stamped initals "H A" to upper cover. Boards slightly stained and slightly worn on edges and corners, upper hinge starting to crack next to some raised bands, very small crack at top of hinges, tiny chip at top of lower hinge, front pastedown missing, 2 early inscriptions on front endpaper which is browned at edges and is laid down on paper, initial blank present with a repaired closed tear, some upper margins trimmed, no loss of print, small pale damp stain to some upper margins and to a few fore-edge margins, closed tear on page 1013, neatly repaired without loss, a little brown spotting to lower inner margin of pages 2 and 3 (second sequence). A very good clean, tight, sturdy copy, lacking most of Volume 2I as noted. The Statutes begin with Henry III and Magna Carta, and continue to the reign of Henry VIII, followed in Volume II to the seventh year of the reign of Edward VI. Sweet and Maxwell, Volume I, page 352, No. 18. MORE IM
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